Emergency Law?

"The special law won't kill the student movement.  The fundamental rights under threat today need to be defended."  CLASSE spokesman Gabrielle Nadeau-Dubois

The law, passed by the National Assembly last Friday, named Bill 78, placing limits on demonstrations, may be political legal tender, but it has no resonance with the protesting students.  Nadeau-Dubois plans to have it declared null and void.  He is prepared to support the notion that it is unconstitutional, at the very least struck down. 

Because he says it should be.  As the arbiter of precisely what is legal and what is not.

It is his considered and considerable opinion that the lawmakers sitting in the General Assembly, democratically elected to lead the province, have no idea whatsoever of what constitutes legal rights and obligations.  And he is prepared to sacrifice his time and his patience to teach them.  Out of the goodness of his heart and his dedication to the ideals of fairness and justice.

Three months on and more massive demonstrations planned.  The protesters, representing fewer than one-third of the province's post-secondary students, are challenging Bill 78.  It surely does not represent their constitutional rights and its imposition is clearly illegal.  And for their impudent rejection of legal injunctions they are rewarded by the support of a coalition of 140 community groups and unions.

This is society gone amok.  Perhaps not all of society, since it appears that the general provincial electorate is not hugely in support of the immensely incensed and entitled students.  And the students who resent the merest suggestion that it might be prudent for them to think of the entire society and their obligation to it, in paying for at least some of the costs of their education, are now appealing to the public to help finance a legal challenge they intend to mount.

And also, while they're at it, any possible fines they might incur under the new legislation.  Until, that is, they have successfully challenged its legality and have it shamefully expunged from the record.  Penalties of defying Bill 78 are impressive, ranging between $7,000 and $35,000 for a student leader and between $25,000 and $125,000 for unions or student federations.

That same law thoughtfully put the current academic session on hold until August.  This is a kindly gesture toward the protesting students, to enable them, when they're finished having their unwholesome hissy-fit, to complete their school year.  A courtesy they have been busily, nosily, violently, denying the two-thirds of Quebec post-secondary students that have been attempting to attend classes.